Govt to consider 7 new SEZ proposals today

The government will tomorrow consider seven new proposals, including five from IT and ITeS sector, for setting up Special Economic Zones.NEW DELHI: The government will on Thursday consider seven new proposals, including five from IT and ITeS sector, for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

The proposals, including those of HCL IT City Lucknow, Reliable Exports (India) and North Mumbai International Commodity Township, will be taken up by the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZ, chaired by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia on Thursday.

While North Mumbai International Commodity Township has proposed to set up a free trade and warehousing zone in Maharashtra, Reliable Exports (India) has sought approval of BoA to set up an IT SEZ in Mumbai.

Further three SEZ developers, including Emmar MGF Land and Hindustan Newsprint, have approached the government to surrender their tax-free zones and 22 have sought more time to implement their respective projects, which are at different stages of implementation.

The developers that have requested for more time include Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt, Shantha Biotechnics and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu.

According to the Agenda of the BoA meeting, Emmar MGF Land Ltd had secured a formal approval in June 2012 to set up an IT SEZ, but the "developer has neither (put) any request for extension, nor any effort for development of the project seems to have been taken by them".

"The Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Kerala, has conveyed the no-objection of the state government for the cancellation of the LoA (letter of approval). DC ( Development Commissioner) has recommended cancellation of formal approval," it has said.

Exports from these zones rose to Rs 4.94 lakh crore in 2013-14, from Rs 22,840 crore in 2005-06.

So far formal approval has come for 416 proposals, of which 330 SEZs have been notified.

As many as 36 such zones are operational in Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka and Telangana (26) and Maharashtra (25).

The Commerce Ministry is taking steps to increase exports as the country's shipments in the last four financial years have been hovering around USD 300 billion. SEZs account for about 25 per cent of the country's total exports.

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The unused Input Tax Credit (ITC) on goods and services lying with the property developers as on March 31 will be reversed for under-construction properties since the ITC stands to lapse from April 1 for such houses.